


Wherever You Are

by thankslarry



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Innocent Luke, Kinda?, Louis is a doctor, M/M, Oblivious Luke, Punk Ashton, Soulmates, he's also a lot older than the rest of the characters fyi, honestly this is so dramatic I hate myself, this was originally a different story for english class so the set-up might seem strange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 09:12:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4215969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thankslarry/pseuds/thankslarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unfortunately, some people never meet their soulmates and continue to live in a world without color. These people are called Misfits, and they bring down anyone’s mood just by thinking about them. Luke never wants to be a Misfit, but unfortunately, Luke’s world was still in black and white. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>        or a soulmate au where Luke is 21 and desperate to meet his soulmate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wherever You Are

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So, this is my first one shot and this was originally a myth that I wrote for my English class but I decided to also post it here. Kudos and comments are very appreciated! I hope you enjoy : )

Three. Two. One.

As the numbers on the digital clock changed from 11:59 PM to 12:00 AM, Luke felt himself subconsciously suck in a breath of the crisp air as one thought crossed his mind. This was it, Luke was finally 21, finally a fully-grown adult. Although, it’s a rather bittersweet celebration. He’s celebrating his coming of age but he’s also silently welcoming himself into an unspoken sea of Misfits. 

Luke’s world isn’t the same as the world people were accustomed to in the past. Around the year 2106, technology had advanced so substantially that the world had its second major technological boom. During this boom, world population dropped rapidly for unknown reasons. Scientists and researchers could never figure out a reason for why this sudden population drop occurred, but they made one hypothesis: the younger generations stopped believing in monogamy and focused more on polyamory. These younger generations all believed that there wasn’t just one person for everyone and these kids were fine with that. The major problem, however, was- they had no desire for ever having a family and having children. This was seen as a major issue by scientists who greatly feared that if this behavior continued, the human species could have possibly died out eventually. Because of this, these scientists researched for years and finally created the answer to all of their problems. CB-411 was the name of the drug that would eventually be injected into the bloodstreams of newborns as soon as they were born to give them the ability to believe in soulmates. CB-411 was made with a chemical hormone that reacts with everyone’s blood differently, almost like a unique fingerprint. The chemical product after it has reacted with the bloodstream is unique to only two people in the world: that person and their soulmate. CB-411 also causes a temporary color-blindness to the person injected with it until they touch hands with their soulmate. When their hands come into contact, the chemical escapes out of the bloodstream and through the fingertips as a harmless vapor that quickly disappears. The two soulmates see a burst of vivid color for a few seconds and then they can finally see in color and no longer in black and white. 

Unfortunately, some people never meet their soulmates and continue to live in a world without color. These people are called Misfits, and they bring down anyone’s mood just by thinking about them. Luke never wants to be a Misfit, but unfortunately, Luke’s world was still in black and white. 

Luke refused to call himself a Misfit. He can’t be. Misfits lose hope of finding their soulmates, while Luke has an unwavering sense of knowledge that he will meet his soulmate soon. Luke wants to be hopeful that he will meet his perfect girl, not wallow away in self-pity like Misfits did. He always was a hopeful person in general, no matter what the situation was, and this small fact about him now being 21 and soulmate-less didn’t change his mind about meeting his true love. 

Although Luke has a strong desire to meet his true love, he is more excited about the idea of color. His brain can’t even fathom into thoughts that could ever begin to comprehend what the experience of seeing something in color is like. He fantasizes about color but doesn’t have any possible clue as to what they look like. His friend, Ashton, tried describing to him what they’re like, but Luke can’t understand the entire concept. Ashton always describes colors to Luke while Luke listens with concentrated fascination. Although the names of the colors sound like gibberish to Luke, he still remembers everything that Ashton tells him about colors. He remembers Ashton describing to him what his features looked like when highlighted in an array of different shades of colors. Ashton told him that he had bright blue eyes that were so captivating that if you looked close enough into them, you can see right through his irises and see into his optimistic soul. He also told him that he had gorgeous blond hair that was so beautiful and each strand is a different shade, each better than the last. Whenever Ashton would say this, Luke’s smile would get wider and wider and eventually be framed by one lone dimple. He knew that Ashton said everything in so much detail because he knows how much it fascinates Luke. 

Ashton was one of the lucky ones, Luke always thinks. Ashton met his soulmate at the young age of 11, which is extremely rare. He’s been able to see colors ever since then. He met his soulmate, a girl named Ally, and they were inseparable. She had a personality very similar to his own, always bubbly and positive. Ashton never  
wanted to be without Ally and she felt the same about him. Unfortunately, Ally died in a car accident when Ashton was 13. Ashton was sad but, being the positive person  
that he is, he still smiled as wide as he could and showcased his two deep dimples. This death did, however, tear Ashton apart. The worst pain he’s ever felt was the pain  
of losing his perfect girl. This is a main reason why Ashton is a bit hesitant on Luke having a perfect idea of his soulmate. Ashton thinks that this idea that Luke has formed in his head of his perfect girl would slowly break him. The entire idea of “Ash” seemed to be more of a demon from Luke’s inner mind that he has to face. Ashton thinks that Luke’s life would probably be a lot easier if he didn’t have his heart set on “Ash”.

Although he has his doubts about what “Ash” can do to Luke’s mental state, Ashton still tries to support Luke as much as possible. This is why the two best friends are currently sitting in Luke’s room in their shared apartment and it had just turned midnight, indicating that it was now officially Luke’s 21st birthday. Ashton promised Luke that he would stay awake until midnight with him for his birthday and now the two were sitting in silence. That was until Luke spoke up.

“Hey, Ashton?” Luke asked quietly, unsure if Ashton was still awake or if he already managed to doze off. “Can you tell me about how you look, again? What kind of color features do you have?”

“Well,” Ashton began, unsure of how he should explain it, “My skin is tan, which means my skin isn’t too light nor too dark. My hair is dyed abnormal colors and right now it’s blue, white, and lilac. I hope those are the first colors that you see after you meet your soulmate because I consider them to be some of the most beautiful colors.”

Luke interrupted Ashton’s description of himself to ask, “Why do you change your hair color? I thought all colors were beautiful. Why do you want to change the beautiful hair color that you were born with?”

“All different colors are beautiful. I just like to take advantage of the fact that I can see these different shades of colors and I like to change my hair often to keep myself interesting,” Ashton explained.

Luke was about to disagree with Ashton, to say that he already was interesting-- everything about Ashton was perfect and he is most definitely interesting, which is why Luke loves that they’re best friends-- when their conversation was interrupted by the annoying ring of Luke’s phone, interrupting the intimate moment. Startled, Luke reached onto his nightstand to take out his phone and check the caller I.D. He saw that it was his overzealous friend Calum and chuckled before answering. 

Ashton ignored the phone conversation, already knowing that he was just calling to wish Luke a “Happy Birthday” and probably making some type of inappropriate joke that associates with turning 21. Instead, Ashton thought about his best friend who is now technically a Misfit. He just can’t even imagine Luke being a Misfit, they were way too depressed compared to Luke’s positive personality. Misfits were the exact representation of “forever alone”. They were the poor souls who never found their soulmates and most people would say they were now just awaiting death. But this wasn’t true- they weren’t awaiting death; they were already dead. They were walking bombs ready to explode when their time was up. Misfits didn’t experience life, they were just suffering through it until it was over. Ashton didn’t want this to happen to Luke; he didn’t want him to become as lifeless as those misfortunate souls. Luke was too special for this. There was no possible way he would become a Misfit, Ashton would make sure of it.   
Ashton snapped back into reality and now realized that Luke had already ended the phone call and began to drift into a deep sleep. Seeing as it was now almost 1 a.m., Ashton decided that he should follow his lead.

***

The next morning, Luke and Ashton joined up with their friends Calum, Bri, and Michael to celebrate Luke’s birthday. Although, all they were doing was walking up and down the main streets, a walk that seemed to last forever. Luke had been dealing with being a “Misfit” considerably well- until he saw a particularly sad group of these Misfits on the street. Luke didn’t notice them at first, they were practically invisible to any normal person. But when he noticed them, he really wished that he hadn’t. This one group in particular looked the saddest, most miserable to Luke. He didn’t want this; he didn’t want to be associated as that type of person who has no life left after he fails to meet his soulmate. No matter how positive he was, he knew that he would eventually become one of them if he can’t find his soulmate soon. Maybe if she can’t find him, he can find her. 

“Hey, Lukey,” Calum nudged Luke, stubbornly. 

“Yeah, Cal. What is it?” Landon mumbled back, weakly.

“You’ve been out of it all day. Michael has been trying to get your attention for the past 6 minutes!” Calum responded.

“Sorry… I’ve just been thinking about my soulmate a lot lately. I’m just wondering where she is. Everyone else has already met their soulmate, so why should that be different for me?” Luke asked more to himself than to Calum, getting frustrated. 

It was a rhetorical question, and everyone knew this. Luke was right with what he said, most people their age have already met their soulmates years ago. The only other person his age who hadn’t met their soulmate that Luke was aware of was his friend Michael. But Michael is a lot more complicated than Luke. Michael just had no desire the meet his soulmate. He liked being alone and he liked spending his time studying. He had no desire whatsoever to fall in love or to even just lust after someone. He was content with not having a soulmate or not knowing who is soulmate is. No one else understands why Michael feels this way, but his friends accept that he feels this way. The group of friends try not mention soulmates around Luke and Michael but it’s a hard topic to avoid, especially when Calum only recently found his soulmate. He met Bri only a few years ago but she already perfectly fits in with their group. Luke is worried that if he ever did meet his soulmate, she wouldn’t live up to the great expectations set by Bri. He has so many worries about his soulmate but his biggest worry is that she won’t be nearly as good as the image that he’s built up in his head. Luke highly doubts it, but what if she isn’t as great as he has formed her to be? Luke always had his idea of his perfect soulmate: He had a deep gut feeling that her name was ‘Ash’ and she would have two deep dimples and a smile bigger than life. She would probably have silky smooth, long hair and stunning eyes. Luke wouldn’t need to see what color they were to know that they were beautiful. 

Luke honestly doesn’t know if he could go much longer without meeting her. He wants to see colors and he wants to be in love and he’s tired of waiting for it to come to him. If he wants destiny to prevail, he needs to try encouraging it a little. The only way he can meet Ash, is if he goes out and looks for her. It’s decided, he thinks, I’m going to search for Ash and nothing can stop me.

***

Luke was wrong. His search for Ash could be stopped, and it was stopped the minute he explained his plans to his friends. They immediately told him the many complications involved with searching for Ash. They made him aware that looking for Ash was a lot more complicated than he originally thought. For one, this search for Ash could take him his entire life. He might spend forever looking for her and waste his life on that as the only major thing he ever did. The second issue that his friends made him aware of was the fact that she may not even live near him. She could be living on the opposite side of the world, a long way from where he resided in Sydney, Australia. He had all the time in the world to look for her, but travelling is an issue when he’s a student in debt. The third concept conflicting his search was the terrible thought that maybe she doesn’t even exist. What if his search is for nothing? What if all he got from this journey was the sadness that associates with your soulmate being dead? There were far too many thoughts of ‘what if’ running through Luke’s mind. 

Luke thought about the possible risks and disappointments that he could face, but he also thought about everything that he would gain if he did find Ash. He would actually be with his soulmate, the person that was deemed as his destiny by the Universe. He would finally have a loving companion after twenty one long years of being alone. Well, he was never alone; he always had his friends with him, but having a soulmate is completely different from that. He also thought about the best thing that would come out of this: he would finally be able to see color. There would be no more wondering about what it would be like because he would actually be able to experience it for himself. With this thought in mind, Luke knew he needed to find Ash. 

***

His first stop on his journey was Ashton’s room. His best friend always gave Luke the best advice for him and he knew that Ashton was the best person to go to in this case. He carefully knocked on Ashton’s door and heard him welcome Luke into his room. 

“Hey, Lukey. What’s up?” Ashton questioned.

“I need your advice on something,” Luke paused and waited for Ashton’s nod of approval before continuing, “I decided that I need to find my soulmate, wherever she is. The problem is, I have no idea where to start looking.”

Ashton’s face read of understanding and encouragement as he responded, “Well, you said that you have a feeling that her name is Ash, right? Well, use that to try to find her. We can start by looking at the city’s records to find any girl with ‘Ash’ in her name and then we can narrow that list down by their birthday. Whoever was born on the same day as you is your soulmate.”

Luke quickly hugged Ashton tightly as he thanked him for his advice. He was eager to begin his search but there were a few more people that he needed to visit first. 

***

Luke’s second stop he needed to make before looking for Ash was Calum’s house. He also needs to visit Bri next, but he assumed that she was with Calum. His assumption was proved to be true when he opened the door to reveal the two watching something on tv. They smiled at him and paused whatever they were watching. 

Calum looked at Luke and said, “Hi dude. What brings you here?”

Luke replied, “I actually need some advice.”

“What do you need advice on? We’re all ears,” Bri told him, sweetly. 

“I’m trying to find my soulmate and Ashton already told me how I should start looking, but I need something else. I need to know what I’m gonna get once I find her. I know I’m going to be able to see color, which I’m really excited about, but is this journey to find her going to be worth it?” Luke asked them, nervously. He knew that they couldn’t exactly predict the future, but he was hoping that they could use some of their experience to tell him what they gained from meeting their other half.

“It’s going to be completely worth it. When you find your soulmate, it’ll be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. You’ll get those stereotypical butterflies in your stomach when you find out who your soulmate is. You won’t be able to stop smiling for weeks after it happened. You’ll have your other half, the person who completes you. When you’re with them, it feels like time is nonexistent. It feels like when you’re on the highest point on the rollercoaster and you get that filling in your stomach that’s uncomfortable and yet thrilling. When you’re without them, it feels like a piece of you is missing. It feels like waking up to only half of a blue sky and finding yourself somewhere between the blue and the clouds. Having a soulmate is the best feeling I’ve ever experienced,” explained Bri, looking lovingly into Calum’s eyes. This majorly convinced Luke that he was doing the right thing by searching for Ash. 

Luke thanked the two of them and then left in search of his second half.

***

Luke began his search for Ash by looking her up in the town’s records. He knows that soulmates are always born in the same hospital, so he was hoping that she still lives nearby and didn’t move away. He went to the closest library and looked online for the town’s directory. Once he found that, Luke began searching anyone with the letters A-S-H in their name, in that order. That narrowed it down to about 1.4 million people. Luke then further narrowed it down by women. The list didn’t shorten by much, leaving Luke a bit frustrated. He shortened the list by crossing those searches with a list of people who were born in the same hospital as Luke. This action severely decreased the amount of possibilities to who his soulmate was. He took a deep breath and then tried making the list more precise by also searching people who were born on the same day as himself. He didn’t look for a moment, nervous to see who was left. However, he knew that the person who was left would be his soulmate. After taking a moment to collect himself, he looked at the screen, dumbfounded. 

'Your search didn’t match anyone in our records. Please try again.' 

***

Luke has spent a week in his room, in a state of numbing sadness. His soulmate doesn’t exist. He didn’t think it was possible to not have a soulmate. He thought that everyone in the world has someone they are meant to be with, at least that’s what everyone told him when he was a kid. Luke always thought that he would eventually meet his soulmate and live that fairytale happily ever after, but apparently he was wrong. There was no one he was meant to be with, no one he can spend the rest of his life with. The Universe didn’t pick anyone to be his soulmate. He isn’t too sure of his purpose anymore, now that he knows his soulmate isn’t out there.

His friends have been trying to contact him constantly over the course of this week. He ignores them, though. There’s no point in seeing them when he knows it will just drown him further into a sea of emotions. Ashton is his best friend, but he’s way too happy all of the time. Calum and Bri are too much in love for them to sympathize with him. They don’t know what it feels like to be alone. Michael is just hard to talk to. Luke loves his friend, but he isn’t the easiest person to talk to because he doesn’t care about love or soulmates, just his grades. So Luke would rather be alone than be surrounded by people yet still feel alone. 

His thoughts were interrupted by Ashton welcoming himself into the room. Although he knew that Luke didn’t want to talk about anything, he still was there for him. Luke never even told Ashton what was wrong, not wanting to bother him with his dumb problems, but Ashton assumed that it was something about his soulmate. 

“Lukey, I know you’re sad but, whatever is hurting you will feel a lot better once it’s out in the open. Keeping everything bottled up just makes it hurt more. Saying the problem out loud can help,” Ashton tried to say in a soothing voice, placing a comforting hand on Luke’s shoulder.

“Saying it out loud won’t help, it’ll just make it feel real,” Luke spoke with a broken voice.

Ashton looked at his best friend, not knowing what to say in response. So, instead of saying anything just laid down next to his friend and hugged him. 

***

After much convincing, Luke finally told Ashton what happened. Ashton felt sorry for his friend, but he knew what it was like to lose a soulmate and he tried assuring him that things would get better, but it was to no avail. However, Ashton then made Luke aware of something that could make it possible to still find his soulmate.

Ashton had asked him, “Wait a minute, soulmates are usually born within 24 hours of each other. So, what if your soulmate wasn’t born on your birthday but on the day before or after it instead?” 

This was the one question that gave Luke hope and now he and Ashton were at the hospital, trying to find the same doctor who delivered Luke. They walked up to the front desk and Luke politely asked the receptionist, “Is Dr. Tomlinson here?”

They women smiled sweetly and answered, “Yes he is. Do you have an appointment?” The question was sarcastic, knowing that they obviously didn’t have an appointment, seeing as Dr. Tomlinson was an Obstetrician. 

Luke begged her, “Please I just have one question to ask him.” Luke quickly made up and excuse and said, “He’s my mom’s doctor. She’s pregnant with my little brother and I have an important question to ask Dr. Tomlinson.”

It was fairly obvious that this was a poorly constructed lie, but the receptionist heard the plea in Luke’s voice and decided to help him, “Fine, you can see him, but only for a few minutes. He’s very busy today and doesn’t need any distractions.” 

Luke quickly thanked her and ran towards the room that she told him Dr. Tomlinson was in. Ashton struggled to keep up with him as Luke’s long legs moved in a hurry. They finally got to the room, which looked like it was just a small office with a filing cabinet and one desk with a computer and some paperwork on it. He saw Dr. Tomlinson filing some papers into the cabinet and he looked up at the screech of the heavy door opening. He looked confusedly at the two boys who just entered the room.

Dr. Tomlinson spoke in a very thick British accent as he questioned, “Can I help you gentlemen with something?”

Ashton replied before Luke could, “Yes actually, um we are actually looking for my friend’s soulmate.” He gestured towards Luke as he spoke.

Dr. Tomlinson answered with a smirk, “Well, I’m flattered, but I’m not his soulmate.”

Luke seemed annoyed and responded, “You know that’s not what we meant. You were the doctor who delivered me when I was born and I need help finding my soulmate. I just turned 21 and I still haven’t found her, and I’m running out of places to look. I just need you to look up some records for me. I don’t need any classified paperwork or anything, I just need to see names and birth dates.” Luke knew this was a lot to ask of a doctor who seemed to take his job seriously, but he hoped that his desperate tone would help. 

Dr. Tomlinson spoke quietly as if anyone else could hear them, “Fine, I’ll do it. But you can’t tell anyone about this. I could lose my job for sharing any patient’s records with you.”

Luke was gratefully for this and waited as Dr. Tomlinson looked up everything that Luke wanted him to. He told the doctor to search for patients born in the year 2109, born on a date from July 15-July 17, and girls with ‘Ash’ in their name. His search took about 6 minutes and ended with only one person left. 

Ashley Armstrong.

Luke’s excitement grew and he couldn’t stop smiling. He finally knew who his soulmate was and he could finally find her and be happy. He almost jumped for joy as he exclaimed, “Thank you! Thank you!-” 

His excitement was cut short by Dr. Tomlinson, who was previously looking through the girl’s paperwork, telling him, sorrowfully, “Ashley Armstrong was a patient here for years but Luke… she passed away from breast cancer when she was 19.”

If Luke felt like his world stopped when he thought he had no soulmate, his world almost completely stopped when hearing that his soulmate died. His search was all for nothing, 21 years of waiting for his perfect girl, for nothing. 

Ashton looked towards Luke with a face full of sorrow, but Luke just ignored him. He felt completely numb from head to toe, not able to feel anything. He ran out of the room and then out of the building, not stopping for Ashton who was chasing him, begging for him to stop. 

His heart felt like it shattered to pieces and he found it breathing to be difficult now. It felt like the air was swallowing him up inside, and there was nowhere left for him to escape. As he was running he saw a group of Misfits walking along the road. As he watched the club of depressed people who never found love and stopped trying at life, he decided he was going to be just like them. 

***

Luke had spent a month living true to his word. He was now acting completely like a Misfit. He hasn’t truly hung out with any of his friends since learning about Ashley. Luke felt like he had no purpose to get out of bed in the morning, so he didn’t. He stayed in bed as long as he could and only got up to eat, go to the bathroom, and bathe. Then, he would go right back to bed, completely numb, not able to feel any emotions. He liked things this way; he liked not caring about anything or anyone. He never thought that he would ever say or think it but he actually liked being a Misfit. 

He was enjoying another anti climactic day of staying in his bed and ignoring Ashton when there was a knock on the door. He knew that the knock wasn’t Ashton’s, it was far too weak. Ashton’s knock is very firm and distinct, unlike this one. He slowly got out of bed and gently opened his door to find Michael in the doorway. He was confused, but let him into the room nonetheless. Luke went back and sat on his bed, waiting for Michael to say whatever he was going to say to him. 

“Luke, you can’t spend the rest of your life wasting away in your room. You can be happy without a soulmate. Just look at me, I’m happy the way I am and I don’t need a soulmate. And neither do you. You can go through life on your own and be just as happy as people with their soulmates are,” Michael explained to Luke who was mutely looking at him. 

Luke knew that he was right, but he didn’t want to admit it. He liked being pitied and he liked being a Misfit. It made it easier for people to see him and already know he’s a Misfit than to have to explain to people that he has no soulmate. 

Luke looked at Michael’s friendly face and told him, “I know that I can be happy alone, but it’s just easier to be sad. It takes a lot of effort to build up enough strength and confidence that is needed to be happy. The easier option is to just be depressed.”

Michael tried convincing him, “Being happy isn’t as difficult as you think it is. You have four friends who love you and care about you. When you destroy yourself, you’re also destroying us.” 

Luke had nothing else to say. He knew that everything Michael said to him was right but he didn’t know what to do about it. He wanted to believe that he could just wallow in his own sadness for the rest of his life, but he knew he couldn’t do that to his friends. He stayed quiet as Michael sighed and walked out of the room. 

***

It was later that day that Ashton was looking for Luke and couldn’t find him. He went to Luke’s room and expected him to be there, but he surprisingly wasn’t. Ashton stood there for a moment, unsure of where to look for his best friend, when he remembered Luke’s favorite place to go to when he wants to escape reality- the rooftop. Ashton grabbed the keys to their apartment and locked the door as he left. He went up the stairs to the roof of his apartment building in search of Luke. When he finally got to the top, he looked around him and saw Luke laying in a lounge chair, looking out at the sky. Ashton slowly approached him and stood next to him, not wanting to ruin the silence. 

Ashton looked towards the horizon as he said, “I hope you aren’t still feeling sorry for yourself after I had Michael talk to you.”

Luke turned his head to look at him as he asked with a tone that Ashton couldn’t quite understand, “You sent him to talk to me?”

“Of course I did. Did you really think he would pull his head out of his books long enough to even understand what’s going on around him?”

“So those things he said to me, did you tell him to say that?”

“No those were his own thoughts, I just gave him the extra push to actually talk to you about it.”   
Luke nodded his head at Ashton’s words, unsure of what to say next. Luke just observed Ashton’s face in the dim glow of the fading sky. He looked at Ashton’s curly hair and looked at the way his emerald eyes looked even more radiant in this light. He admired Ashton’s dimples that were still prominent even when he wasn’t smiling. 

“Um Lukey, why are you staring at me?” Ashton asked Luke while giggling.

“I wasn’t! I was just… lost in my train of thought?” Luke’s statement sounded more like a question. 

“Okay so what were you thinking about?” Ashton smirked at Luke as he blushed at the question.

“Um… your dimples…” Luke bashfully admitted. 

Ashton laughed at his friend’s embarrassed face and quickly changed the subject, “So are you feeling better about the soulmate thing?”

“I don’t feel as upset as I did but I’m still not happy. I just wish that I had a soulmate and I really wish that I could see color but I guess I’ll need to just learn to live with it.”

“Maybe you don’t have to learn to live with it. Maybe you do have a soulmate out there.”

Luke had to stop himself from sarcastically laughing as he said, “Are you dumb? I don’t have a soulmate! She’s dead! She’s dead and she isn’t coming back! I don’t have a soulmate anywhere!”

Luke jumped out of his chair and tried to leave the rooftop in anger but Ashton stopped him by saying, “I know that she died! That isn’t what I mean. I mean that you don’t need the Universe to tell you who your soulmate is! Your soulmate can be whoever you want to love! Your friends can be your soulmates! The only person who was making this difficult for you was yourself and your entire idea of ‘Ash’! You prevented yourself from being happy by going on this search! You were happy before this and you’re going to be happy again. You don’t need to give up on love just because one girl isn’t with you.”

Luke listened to everything that Ashton said, but he was too stubborn to turn around and look at him. Instead, he just tried walking away, only to be stopped by Ashton who reached out to grab Luke’s hand to stop him. Just then, time seemed to stop. The two friends looked at each other as they both felt an intense burn radiate from their joining hands. They stared at each other in shock and Luke turned to look at the city. When he looked over the city, he saw a bright flash of blue and then slowly he saw everything in color. Buildings, streetlights and street signs all one by one began to be colored in. It was the most beautiful and incredible thing that Luke has ever seen. He couldn’t even form enough words to completely describe what he saw, all he could think about was the pure beauty of it. The sky was a gorgeous blend of colors that Luke couldn’t even begin to describe. All he knew was that he loved it.

Luke slowly turned to Ashton in shock and saw that his friend looked just as confused as he was. The two of them looked at each other for a few moments, not knowing what words to say. They just stared at each other until Luke finally found his voice to say something.

Luke said, “How… How are you my soulmate? We both already had different soulmates.”

Ashton said, “But they both died. Maybe the ‘Universe’ decided that it was time for us to have different soulmates.”

“But how is it even possible for us to be soulmates? We have touched each other’s hands plenty of times and this has never happened before. Plus, I’m not gay… so how are you my soulmate?”

“Soulmates don’t have to date or to be in love. Soulmates are just meant to love each other, and we have loved each other for our entire friendship. Best friends can be soulmates and that’s exactly what we are. We don’t need to put a label on whatever we are. We just love each other and that is the most important thing to remember.” Ashton smiled at Luke, who was smiling right back. 

Luke looked out at the colorful sky and looked down at the surrounding buildings and the street. It was then that he saw a group of Misfits walking down the street and he noticed something that he never noticed before. They weren’t all sad. They were all smiling and enjoying each other’s company and having fun. Luke realized that you don’t need to be in love to be happy; You just need someone to love who loves you back.  
***


End file.
